Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Yother
Danielle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
This story changes form depending on the day and which member of the band is telling it, haha. I just remember wanting to gig again like I used to, I missed the amount of fun I had being in a band and playing onstage. I met Madeline a couple years before at Hagood Mill Fiddlers Convention. Though only 18, she won the SC State Fiddling Championship. We jammed that night onstage in the freezing cold. Molly I had known of for a while, as she’s grown up going to the same Jam at Oolenoy Community center on Friday. All three of us have also learned and taught through either the Young Appalachian Musician Program (YAM in Pickens, SC) or Mountain School of Strings (Brevard NC). These are nonprofit organizations that pass down traditional Appalachian music, all connected through the larger JAM Organization, which helps fund both. It’s funny, there is such an age gap between Molly and I, she was in my songwriting class at YAM Camp one year. Nevertheless, a few years later I was really impressed with her diverse skillset. So it went like this -“hey, would y’all want to play some gigs?” Madeline and Molly met for the first time where we jammed at Molly’s house. There we arranged the “Wilder Flower Medley” which can be seen as the first video we posted on YouTube – around two years ago now. Looking back, we had this instant synergy, even in that video. Both Molly and Madeline are so reactive & dynamic in their playing, which makes all the in-between of three part harmony & fiddle tunes so fun. Local venues have graciously given us space in their schedule over the last few years, allowing us to continually experiment new material and improv ideas on them. People loved the wild flower mashup of Tom Petty & Dolly Parton’s songs, so they suggested we be named after it; hence “The Wilder Flower.” These venues also reacted well to us just being pretty forward about what humor was in our head at the time, or telling a little too long of stories. They encouraged the bad stage behavior, haha. So this atypical dialogue really grew out of playing our local venues.
I think a strength of ours is having very different musical backgrounds & tastes, & being able to find the balance in that. You can probably guess who likes what by listening to our songs. The subgeneres flip pretty rapidly throughout our album, which keeps it interesting for us. We’re glad that some audiences have continued to find it interesting as well. We’ve been able to play some pretty cool festivals so far, like Earl Scruggs Festival, High Mountain Hay Fever, Albino Skunk, and EMS Thanksgiving Bluegrass Festival. We’ve also been able to play venues such as the Blue Ridge Music Center, The Orange Peel. Floyd Country Store, and The Grey Eagle. One of our absolute favorites, 185 King Street, hosted our album release this past September, which went really well. We are excited to tour even more this year, and add in new originals. I guess one thing that’s important to mention, is that we all write our own songs. So, we will be playing songs from the album, “If I Wait Any More,” but also hope to implement our new songs. Since this kind of music is built on improvising (continuum of ideas), it’s overwhelming but a joy to always have some “new thing” we want to bring to crowds. I guess there will be more experimenting this year! You can come watch if you want!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I guess we have grown more than we expected to in the past few years. Things have built up pretty fast, but it has never felt like that. We all love playing together so much, that we kind of just can’t wait till the next thing. Just enjoying it solves a lot of problems I guess. There’s something special at every venue, so it’s a treat to get to see how we’re gonna mold in the 30-90 minutes were there, with our music, and with the crowd. It really is a kind of sport.
We still do all of our booking, but I don’t mind bugging people a bit. Especially if we get rewarded sometimes for it, haha.
It is a risk as an artist to present something that’s been chiseled at for countless hours, something that’s been refined in a myriad of ways, and invested in an amount that (as artists) we fail to give ourselves credit for. Just because something is enjoyable doesn’t mean time, tears, money, and other talents weren’t also a part of it. So, just landing the gigs and being able to receive compensation that provides for the amount that we work for can be challenging. It’s like that. It seems like we’re leveling up an amount that feels like it will even out, but it is a risk. To choose to do this. Even if it’s not that hard of a choice.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think what sets The Wilder Flower a part as a group is our individual abilities on our instrument. Molly plays both Earl Scruggs style banjo, and clawhammer. She plays both styles very well, which is unusual. Madeline’s voice on the fiddle has this sweet tone only found in old-time fiddling. She can tear up tunes that Molly and I struggle to keep up with sometimes. I do a lot of flat picking on guitar. We all have awards when it comes to our instruments. I made top five of the IBMA/Martin Guitar Competition last year, Madeline now has two SC State Fiddling Championships, & Molly took home first place in banjo there, leaving her Dad in second place (our favorite story to tell, sorry Josh). Since traditional Appalachian music tends to be male-dominated, there’s something really fun about having female band members on the same level instrumentally. We all love to jam, but we usually are the only female, or only couple of females in the jam. The energy of playing one of our original instrumentals (like Gm Tune, or Miryam’s Dream) onstage, is just exciting for everybody involved.
Contact info:
- Website: https://thewilderflowermusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thewilderflowermusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewilderflowermusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewilderflowermusic/videos and https://youtube.com/channel/UCdII0tYAZsS10cfioOzhAqg
